Catalan Committee for Refugees partners with UOC's Refugee Welcome Programme

The UOC's Refugee Welcome Programme will, together with the Catalan Committee for Refugees – Catalonia with the UNHCR, be promoting a range of initiatives to raise the awareness of the university community about the realities faced by migrants and refugees, within the framework of the institution's Globalization and Cooperation Strategy.

Two activities will be developed during the 2021-2022 period as part of the Asylum 2030 interuniversity project: training workshops and an awareness-raising campaign for the university community.

The Creative Campaigns Workshops are aimed at bachelor's degree students and offer the possibility of the recognition of one credit. This theoretical and practical training combines talks and group work, and focuses on refugees, the 2030 Agenda and what can be done online.

The interuniversity awareness campaign part of the Asylum 2030 project is aimed at the entire university community and will be rolled out during the 2021-2022 academic year. It is a digital communication campaign that aims to raise awareness and mobilize the UOC community around the reality faced by refugees and the underlying causes of forced displacement.

The project provides a transformative vision focused on social action to counter the stereotypes and myths regarding asylum and migration; it promotes the defence of human rights and the 2030 Agenda. A series of webinars on "The 2030 Agenda and Refugees" will also be organized. The following universities will be participating in these webinars: University of Barcelona, University of Girona, University of Lleida, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Pompeu Fabra University and Universitat Rovira i Virgili.

"This is a strategic partnership between the UOC and the Catalan Committee for Refugees, as the University plays an extremely important role in knowledge transfer and the training of future generations. This means it can help us promote the defence of the rights of refugees and foster more inclusive host societies," said Màrius Gómez, Advocacy and Education for Global Citizenship Officer for the Catalan Committee for Refugees – Catalonia with UNHCR.

Service learning

The Catalan Committee for Refugees is also promoting a service-learning programme as part of the Joint Master's Degree in Teacher Training - Secondary Education, Language Teaching and Vocational Training (UPF-UOC). During the 2021-2022 academic year, the project will combine training for all the students on the programme with the opportunity for 20 of them to design and implement educational intervention activities aimed at the schools they carry out their internships at. The entire process will see the participation of refugees, and will work towards the twin goal of ensuring in-depth learning for students and, at the same time, teaching the students at the schools about refugee-related issues.

This service-learning project "is an opportunity for students to understand the reality faced by refugees and for intervening in schools to promote a just and inclusive host society in the city of Barcelona," said Lorena Becerril Balín, director of the Joint Master's Degree in Teacher Training - Secondary Education, Language Teaching and Vocational Training at the UOC.

About the Refugee Welcome Programme

The UOC's Refugee Welcome Programme, launched in 2016, tackles the issues faced by refugees in accessing university further education. To this end, the University has partnered with a range of social bodies and associations to run a grant programme for refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons, and to develop awareness-raising activities on refugees and asylum for the university community.